Ramos wakes up to the sound of waves, sunlight poking at his eyelids, and his vision recognises the place, his hometown of Baterilla in the South Blue.
"You're finally awake Ramos-kun. " A familiar voice giggles softly.
His body freezes, not daring to turn around, "N-Nee-chan." He stutters out, voice hitching like a child in trouble, the sob hit before he could even realise it.
"What are you waiting for Ramos? Come hug me–off."
He crashes into her, embracing her in a tight hold, body shaking as he is sobbing onto her sundress.
Rogue hugs him back, "It's ok, Ramos...I'm here." She soothes his back.
After a while he finally calms down, wiping the tears from his face, "I hate that you saw me crying. " He chuckles through a sob.
Rogue smiles at him, pinching his cheek.
"Ouch!" Ramos barks out.
"I told you that even if you're all grown up, you'll still be my little brother. " Rogue states, her eyes move to his appearance. "You're taller than before. "
"I grew up."
"Hmmph!" Rogue pouts, crossing her arms over her chest. "Darn genetics." She mumbled.
Ramos chuckles at her sister's antics, swallowing his spit," Where are we Nee-chan?"
Rogue's lips thin out, "This is the place you find the most peace in, a final moment before we meet in the other world. " She answers, looking back at the shore.
Ramos's jaw tenses; her words cement themselves in his mind. The last thing he remembers is fighting Queen before everything went black.
"Am I dead?"
She glances at him," Not yet, you're still stubbornly holding onto life." She snorts, "Just like your big sister."
Ramos drops his head, "I couldn't protect Ace."
"Ramos–"
"I let him fester his pirate dreams while I was training with that old man!" He yells, tears flowing down his face, "I let him be like him–"
Slap.
The sound resonated across the quiet island.
"Don't talk about the father of my son like that." She warns.
Ramos holds his stinging cheek, " I'm sorry..."
Rogue sighs, rubbing at her flat stomach,
"You can't control him Ramos, my boy is as stubborn as me." She laughs softly.
He glances at the waves, "I don't understand what's happening. " Looking at her with pleading eyes.
"You're dying brother. You used power that your body can't handle." She clarifies.
"This cannot be my end." Ramos refuses to accept his fate, pacing on the soft sand, the sun warms his skin but his body is far from being comfortable.
"I can't end like this." His panic dies in the salty wind.
Rogue looks at him, "Then you need to let go. The hatred you have for pirates, the self-hate for not saving me is still destroying yoy brother." Rogue holds his hand, making a circle in his palm.
"Your ego is drowning in your desires and your morale clouds your judgement. I commend your ambitions of being a Marine but you still view the world as if it's black and white."
"Nee-chan, the Marines are–"
"They allowed the death of babies to prevent Roger's child from being born. They allow slavery in the Holy Land and yet you imprison pirates searching for treasures?" She questions.
Her words struck him like lightning, everything she said had validity and he couldn't refute them.
"I try Nee-chan...I really do." He holds back a sob.
"I know." She ruffles his hair.
"Rogue darling, I found a giant fish!" A masculine voice shouts, the cadence sent shivers down Ramos's spine.
"I have to go to Ramos."
"Nee-chan."
"Your time hasn't come yet and I'm still waiting for you to fulfill your promise." She winks at him, and her form starts fading away.
"Wait!" He reaches out, his hand passes through her intangible form, and the world around him blurs.
"Let the ego be the balance. "
A.N- Sigmund Freud's theory of personality is divided into 3 interactive components:
Id( human desires) Raw untamed thoughts aimed at pleasuring the body.
Super ego( Rational mind) suppresses one's desires to meet societal expectations and the Ego(the mediator ) balances satisfying the Id while holding up to the superego.
Haki, being the manifestation of one's will, relates to this theory as haki is used by humans to sustain their desire for strength and obeying the hierarchy of the World such as the 3 powers therefore the ego is an advanced form of the will to surpass human limitations.
Hope this makes sense😅
×××××
Rumble...rumble...
Back at the flower capital, Kaido's arrival left Wano stagnant, no one dares to move under his intense gaze, and the Yonko ignites fire in his mouth.
Yamato and Angelica could only watch as their end was nearing, their efforts to liberate Wano cane crumbling down under his force.
"Father, please don't do this." Yamato is begging, tears falling down her face as the thought of watching her friends die in front of her would break her soul.
Angelica smiles at her, "It was nice knowing you, Yama."
"Angelica don't –"
Rumble
The ground tremors beneath them, the buildings around them showing cracks, and to their shock, Kaido's extinguishers are growing flame.
"What's happening?" Angelica asks, the hairs on her body spiking up and sweat covers her skin.
A sharp sound cuts through the sky, and as it gets closer the sound can be identified as screaming.
"BOSS–HELP!" Queen screams in terror, accelerating through the sky, heading straight for Kaido.
"Queen? You–"
Bang.
Queen crashes into Kaido, causing the dragon to lose balance, and the two devil fruit users fall on nearby buildings.
Woosh
Back in the heavens, a battle takes place, and in his Pteradon form strikes at him.
The marine is covered in a thin layer of red haki with black lightning bolts moving around him, his hair is snow white, the rims of his eyes are crimson and the most apparent thing about his appearance is the calm look on his face.
Moving at the speed of light, he and King clash again, holding the Lunarian by his beak, the ancient zoan user tries to free his beak but Ramos's hold is too strong, feeling pressure on the bone, King moves his sharp wings to cut at Ramos.
Ramos thrusts King towards himself, scarlet energy flaring around his fist before he punches King, his fist didn't even connect with the second in command, emitting his haki internally, shattering King's organs in the process, the Lunarian reverted to his base form, the flames on his back flickering.
Ramos sends a barrage of fist embedding King's body like his moulding play-dough, and he ends the assault with conquerors mixed with armament, crimson energy forming into a giant fist, moving down on King.
"Hammer of justice. "
Ramos slams King down to Earth, and the Lunarian crashes down, lying in a crater, blood spilling out of his mouth, eyes rolled back as King is defeated.
Ramos turns his attention to Kaido, the Yonko, who has transformed into a dragon-man hybrid, kanabo in his hands, and he leaps at Ramos.
Red and blue flashes meet at the centre of the city, fist to kanabo causes a shock wave across Wano, destroying everything in its circumference, before the debris could reach Yamato and them, Angelica snaps her fingers, teleporting herself and the Wano residence out of the city.
Appearing back in Tama's village, the young kunoichi looks in shock at her big sister's arrival. "Yama, Angelica, where's Ramos-kun?" The girl asks, Hitetsu clutches at his mask at the number of people now occupying the village, " That brat!"
×××××
Back in the flower capital, Ramos and Kaido exchange blows, none of them blocking hits at all, just taking critical hits like barbarians in battle.
"You're actually fun kid~" Kaido giggles, licking the blood of his lip, the strongest creature hasn't felt this much excitement in battle since his fight with the Red-haired pirate Shanks.
Ramos is keeping up with his brute strength, going blow for blow as Kaido feels pain across his body, a foreign feeling for him.
Bang
Crack
His kanabo struck at Ramos's shoulder, feeling bone shatter, the marine counters with a punch to his gut, fist embedding as it pokes his spine.
"Ughhh –" Kaido spits out blood, he retaliates with a heafbut, snapping Ramos's head back at a life-threatening angle, the white-haired man, snaps his neck back in place, blood peaking at the corners of his mouth. He stares at Kaido like he didn't almost kill him.
"This is fun~"
"Shut up."
The dance continues, slugging at each other, fist meeting flesh in violent sequences, bones begging for relief as muscle works over time to maintain strength, and in the thick of all this chaos, neither of the men hesitates to put their lives at risk.
A battle that shook the heavens.
[End of chapter ]